As NASA works toward the April 1 launch of its Artemis II mission, here’s what you need to know about how the project is setting the stage for future moon landings.
We will return to the moon, but it will not be in 2026.
You may have heard the buzz about NASA’s Artemis 2 mission. The mission made headlines as the space agency’s first manned mission to the moon in more than 50 years. This adventure is a historic undertaking, sending the first black man, first woman, and first Canadian on a journey farther from Earth than any human before.
But it won’t be the first mission to return humans to the moon since the era of Apollo moon landings ended in 1972.
Instead of landing on the surface, the four Artemis 2 astronauts will orbit the moon and return to Earth in NASA’s Orion capsule. The long-awaited moon landing? It should be about two years from now.
As NASA works toward the April 1 launch of its Artemis II mission, here’s what you need to know about how the project is setting the stage for future moon landings.
Why the Artemis 2 mission won’t include a moon landing
Artemis 2 astronauts will pilot NASA’s Orion capsule on a 10-day journey around the moon after blasting off atop a 322-foot Space Launch System (SLS) rocket towering from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA tested the spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission in 2022, but Artemis 2 will be the first time the SLS rocket and Orion capsule will carry humans. So NASA wants to use the Artemis 2 mission to make sure both pieces of hardware are working as intended before putting boots back on the lunar surface.
The astronauts will test systems and hardware while viewing a view of the far side of the moon that no other human has ever seen before flying Orion through Earth’s atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near California.
When will astronauts return to the moon? NASA aims for 2028
NASA originally aimed for a subsequent Artemis 3 mission to land on the moon. But in late February, the U.S. space agency announced a complete overhaul of Operation Artemis, including a new mission before sending humans to the surface.
Artemis 3 is now the name of a new mission planned for 2027 that will send a crew of astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft into orbit around Earth, where they will dock with at least one of the commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. NASA will also use the mission to test a spacesuit, known as an extravehicular activity suit, that Axiom Space is developing for astronauts on the moon.
The moon landing is expected to take place as early as 2028 during the Artemis 4 mission.
What will NASA’s moon landing look like?
SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, originally won the contract to develop the lunar lander for the first Artemis mission to send astronauts to the surface. Building on that original plan, SpaceX has been working on configuring the Starship vehicle, known as the Human Landing System, for crewed lunar exploration missions.
But amid concerns that Starship’s development is lagging, NASA now also appears to be considering Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander, an unmanned version of which is scheduled to head to the moon’s surface in late 2026 on a pathfinding mission.
Whichever lander is ultimately selected for Artemis 4, it will join NASA astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit and carry them to the moon’s surface. After the astronauts walk on the moon and perform a series of scientific experiments, the lander will transport them to the constellation Orion and return to Earth, NASA said.
Where will the US moon landing take place?
NASA previously identified nine potential landing sites near the moon’s largely unexplored south pole for human surface operations.
All possible locations are further south than where the Apollo astronauts landed or ventured, according to NASA. There, a permanent shadow is thought to cover areas rich in water ice. This ice is a valuable resource that could potentially be extracted and used as a source of hydrogen and oxygen for drinking, breathing, and rocket fuel.
NASA wants to build a moon base before Mars mission
NASA’s ultimate goal is to conduct multiple manned and unmanned moon landings over the next few years and build a $20 billion lunar base where astronauts can live and work long-term.
After the Artemis 5 mission, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency wanted to aim for no more than two manned moon landings a year, if not more.
Once that rhythm is established and the infrastructure for a sustainable settlement is in place, NASA will set its sights on humanity’s next big leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact elagatta@usatodayco.com.
